Luck be a Lady [Cora Passek]

[Harland Gates]

StarForge Station​

Shadowport - Ado Sector​

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Resting out in the StarForge Nebula, an asteroid retrofitted to be an illegal shadowport drifted silently within the black void of space. Over many generations, the often overlooked base of operations in all things illegal had changed hands several dozen times. It had weathered wars across the Galaxy and generally stayed off the radar of anyone important enough to be able to shut it down. Over the years though it had developed a rather interesting reputation among the few sentients in the verse that knew about it's continued existence and operation. Control over the station normally went to those who could take it by force, and keep other contested parties at bay. It had changed much since it's incarnation well before the Galactic Civil War, and had been utilized in a wide variety of ways that some would consider to be indecent. Currently, the occupied shadowport was home to a mid-level loan shark who had started to dabble in other interests and needed a better base of operations. The Zeltron was well connected and often found herself with more hired muscle than she could shake a stick at. Such was the price of being a Zeltron beauty, and she relished every second of it. This story however, is not hers.

The distant fog of a mind numbing emptiness was beginning to fade away. This wasn't like waking up from a dream, it was far more unnatural and painful. Whatever had caused the spacer to forget a good portion of time was still unknown as he started to rouse from an unconscious state. Leather creaked and groaned as did Hal, coming into a violent stint of coughing in which he was quite surprised blood wasn't coming out of his mouth. He felt like he'd been run over by a Krayt dragon - twice. Laying in a semi-fetal position on the cold durasteel floor, and turning back and forth on his side cradling his stomach. A possible cracked rib jostled around inside him and it was far from a pleasant feeling. Not only did his side feel bruised, but his entire body ached like he hadn't been able to stretch his limbs in days, and he certainly didn't want to start now. The lights of what appeared to be a main entry point to one of the inner dwelling levels of the shadowport began to flood his vision, and momentarily blind the spacer. A soft soothing voice started to bring him back to a reality that was also not very pleasant.

"Gaaates...wake up boy." The Zeltron cooed while standing over him, feet away, her hands pressed to her svelte waist curving into hips that did all sorts of favors for the woman. "That's it, take a breath. You know what that smell is? I can tell you what it's not. It's not the smell of freedom." A soft and light hearted chuckle escaped the pursed nearly purple lips of the loan shark while she reveled in the prize at her feet. Janta had been chasing Hal for quite sometime, ever since he skipped out on a large payment, and also out of her bed. She hated to think she'd let someone so close to her that could burn her that easily.

"Ugh..." Gates groaned as he coughed a bit more blinking his eyes over and over again trying to undo whatever hex of semi-concious thought was trying to eat away at his cognizant processes. Shaking his head, he started to force himself to focus and raise his gaze towards the woman beckoning him awake. His hands jerked and then his arms suddenly locked up in an odd configuration..behind his back. Twin restraining cuffs were already snapped to his wrists making it that much harder to do anything but lay like a beached whale. In Janta's hungry shark-like gaze, he was one. He might of not had the money she wanted, but he was a whale of a different kind - the kind you skin for a pelt. "Janta...that you darlin'?" He asked weakly before slowly shifting himself to his knees (exactly where she wanted him to be). Slowly his focus came and his eyes searched the area before falling back on the amused Zeltron before him. "If you wanted another date, there are easier ways to get ahold of me." A small smirk formed on his bruised face. Yeah..she had already punched him, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last for as long as he was her 'guest'. He didn't recognize anyone around her, though she was flanked by at least five people. The only thing he did recognize stood behind and to the left of the woman. A far taller and snarling Cathar that was right now leashed by the invisible will of the Zeltron boss. Thane had a very sore jaw from the last time he'd encountered the spacer. Something he meant to repay.

"Always with the jokes Hal. You've been a very naughty boy my little spacer - very naughty indeed." Clipped steps in heels that were just not sensible echoed on the floor as she approached. "By my count you owe...well let's just call it a cool hundred thousand, and with interest...well if you can't pay..." She cooed again before pressing her stiletto pump's sole on his chest and leaning forward. "..then you're gonna be a 'guest' here for a very long time. Sweetie." Janta was rarely so nice, but it was all a facade to patronize him. Her new toy she'd been brought. As angry as Janta was, she was delighted to finally have the upper hand on the unfortunate fate of one Harland Gates.

"Think your math is a little dodgey, hon. Or you've learned to round up to the furthest decimal point. And if this is your example of a five star res..." CRACK! The business end of her foot angled to the side and cracked against his face shutting him up and throwing him back down on the ground. Conscious yes, but certainly in pain.

"Now...as I was saying..."


[member="Cora Passek"]

 

[Cora Passek]

Loan sharks, perhaps the lowest form of criminal scum, but this was Cora we were talking about. She had little to nothing when it came to standards these days, and the Zeltron she owed a favor or ten to from over the years. She'd been mostly quiet as the conversation went on, a little bored.

"Might want to keep that trap of yours shut, and open those ears. It might serve you well." Cora said softly, though there was a hint of mocking in her words as the blonde looked down to her fingernails, thinking that perhaps she needed a fresh manicure. "You know, I think he broke one of my nails... a damn shame, I just barely got em done."

Cora chuckled, "I'm betting he doesn't remember much of last night... The bar? The drinks... The drugging? Oh, wait.. You probably don't remember that part, but I do." Grinning a bit like a Cheshire cat, "No, I'd imagine you remember next to nothing." A sigh, "Truly a shame, was rather.. fun, for me." She stepped forward, kneeling down alongside him, letting the light illuminate her face. Silly men, throw a pretty blonde in front of them and they let their guard down so easily. "Bringing back some memories now?" [SIZE=14.4444446563721px]A sigh followed. [/SIZE]"Dragging you back to the ship, now that wasn't fun... I suspect that's why I'll need to get my nails done again."

The woman stood up slowly and took a step back, letting the Zeltron have her way with the man. "Remind me again, why you did business with this one? Seems like a poor investment if I ever saw one."

[member="Harland Gates"]

 

[Harland Gates]

As vices went, the mixture of gambling and pretty women were probably one of the worst cocktails you could dream up. The traditional outcome of any such mixture was notably volatile, so when you added in this spacer's mouth -- there was little reason to doubt he'd ever skirt by long enough to outrun the long arm of the debts he'd incurred, as well as a woman's wrath. Mustafar had no fury they said, and they were certainly right. Despite being restrained, and in the personal floating fortress of a cold as ice business woman with control over personal pheromones, Hal had been in rougher situations before, not that he really relished his current predicament. Aching from whatever kind of blows he'd taken in the last few hours, and trying to reign in his situation and his mouth to survive long enough to come up with a plan was proving to be difficult. Janta was a long time contact he'd started out with in his first few months of leaving the Order, and he'd proven to be a constant thorn in her side. Even when they had formed something of a relationship, he left the woman exasperated, and now she was looking at him like a predator toying with its next meal. What concerned him more though was the blonde at her side. Who was this girl? And why couldn't he remember letting her get the drop on him at whatever dive she'd scooped him up at? He could only chalk that up to her mention of lacing his drink.

Thrown to his side by the kick, it took another minute to recover his senses as they went swimming into a pool of radiating pain, and a healthy dose of annoyed anger. Gates wasn't a stranger to the physical confrontations that often happened out in the private sector. He'd taken his fair share, and dealt back time and again. The man was rather scrappy and inventive, even when the odds were not in his favor (and they rarely were). Janta had apparently learned her lesson though, trying to send muscle after the spacer to negotiate a deal. She'd sent someone far more dangerous to fetch him - and it had worked, this time. The Zeltron standing over him, near her compatriots was putting on quite a good show for her employ. Displaying her powerful and vindictive side was not hurting her business prospects, and was only ensuring that she'd have continued loyalty for her entourage.

"Don't let him fool you, my dear." Janta remarked glibly towards the blonde woman who had brought her such a lovely prize. "He may seem like an aloof spacer, but Hal has some charm, when he feels like using it." She commented with a huff and kicked him over to his back with one well placed jab to his side. "He's also an excellent earner when properly motivated, but you give him an inch, he'll take the mile and then some." The stark crimson and purple eyes shifted to Cora, offering a gentle smile. "Trust me, he'd be long dead if he wasn't of such use to me." That smile brimmed wider before she glanced at her prize again, and crossed her arms. "I've got plans for this one, but he's no use if he's just wheezing on my floor." Her eyes shifted to her muscle and gave a head bob towards the cells. "Take Hal here to his new home, and make sure he's....comfortable." The way she said it, however, certainly said that she didn't want him to enjoy anything of the sort. The cruel tone to her voice lingered before she turned and stalked off, heels clipping the floor in an echoed pace to leave the party behind.

"So you do care." Hal said, with a groan lifting out of his mouth. It wasn't long before the thick muscular arms of Janta's employ lifted Gates up by both arms, to drag him away. A glance upwards at Cora as the two larger specimens edged to draw him from the main stage into the nearby corridor for his energy cell. It was a short trip, and the throw inside wasn't exactly cushioned either. One of the guards just outside the cell itself was going over the inventory that was on his person when Hal arrived. The Lazy Eye shifted in his palm back and forth, immediately infuriating the spacer who shoved himself forward to protest. "That is an exclusive Merr-Son 5 edition, and it's mine! Get your filthy hands off.." He was cut short as a jab of a electro-stave was pushed into his chest, igniting his body in debilitating electricity and knocking him completely out.

It would be hours before he'd wake up, now un-cuffed and resting his back against the side of the cell, propped up on the metal bench. with his jacket folded up as a makeshift pillow behind him. Gates certainly wasn't happy, and had nothing better to do than stare out at the translucent field of energy that flickered back and forth in dull cerulean shades. One foot propped up on the bench, his arm slug over his knee. This was not the spacer's shining moment.

[member="Cora Passek"]